On Thursday, December 15th, at around 8 p.m., Emanuel had a meeting at the hotel with his partner and travel companion, JE McDonald. Emanuel was traveling with a business partner and they booked a room in one of the most luxurious and famous hotels in Chicago, "The Palmer House". Moses Bensinger, then president of "Brunswick Balke Collender & Co." and John's son-in-law, later said in a newspaper report that Emanuel came to town to (once again) a position between him and "Brunswick Balke Collender & Co." search. With the coming of the world exposition in Chicago the following year, he wanted to secure some sort of branch office during the event. But even that didn't seem to help in his situation - according to a newspaper report, he almost went broke during the process.Ī year later, in early December 1892, Emanuel went on a trip to Chicago. So he took his chance on a trip to Central America, looking for a way to turn things around. However, he was forced to completely rebuild his company.īusiness in San Francisco was not going well for Emanuel, even after moving to his company, practically across the street from Brunswick Balke Collender & Co. Emanuel recruited his brothers (but not John?). John took advantage of the fact that his Ohio facility was still intact and was continuing to produce goods as quickly as humanly possible. Both John and Emanuel began rebuilding independently, opening a new chapter in Brunswick history. The losses were huge and the brothers' Brunswick 3-party partnership officially went up in smoke. But as luck would have it, bad luck in this case, the great Chicago fire of 1871 burned all of it to the ground. He changed his plans again, distancing himself from John's company and opening his own factory in downtown San Francisco. ” Apparently the arguments between him and John weren't that bad.Įmanuel worked for his stepbrother on the west coast until around 1884. The strange thing is that when Emanuel moved to California, he appeared on the Francisco Directory as a sales representative for John's company, JM Brunswick & Balke Co. In about 1879, Emanuel gave control of the company to his brother Joseph and sons Charles and Benjamin, and he and his wife moved to San Francisco. Maybe because of the sagging profits or maybe because of the search for new sales areas. John's company was doing well, whether or not he had help from his brothers, it was Emanuel who appeared to be struggling with economic stability. Henrici's restaurant on Randolph Street in Chicago On the other hand, however, the tax records at the time seem to contradict the "overwhelming" demand theory.
The only reliable information ever found on the subject suggests the latter. It is unclear whether John and Emanuel had squabbles or whether the demand for pool tables at the time was so great that John could not meet it alone. It is not clear whether the identity of his wife's name with John's wife had something to do with it.
the new company Emanuels laid the foundation for a "rivalry that dragged on for a dozen years or more, led to bitter controversy, and what Chicago's billiard circles have never seen in this way. It was almost as if Emanuel was trying to outdo John, and according to Billiard Magazine writer AL Hardy testimony: Great Western Billiard Table Manufactury". He teamed up with John Monroe and his brothers from Aurora, Illinois, built his own manufacturing facility in Chicago, and optimistically they named it: Coincidentally, that was also the year Emanuel married his wife Louisa.Įmanuel went " all in ". Then, apparently without warning, Emanuel decided to go "solo" and "do his own thing". It went well for many years until around 1859.
After discussions with his brother, the company was renamed “JM Brunswick & Bro” in 1855, and then after Emanuel's entry in 1866 into “JM Brunswick & Bros.”. Joseph, the eldest of John's stepbrothers, was very ambitious and so he didn't want to be just an employee of John's. But soon John was ready to expand his company, so in 1848 he sent his brothers to Chicago, Illinois to begin opening a new sales office. Brunswick Manufacturing "in Cincinnati, Ohio. When David and the young Emanuel arrived in the USA, they initially worked in John's billiards manufacturer “J. John emigrated to the USA in 1835 all of his half-siblings later followed him. This marriage has at least one daughter and several sons, including Joseph, Emanuel, David, Hyman and Solomon. Since John Brunswick's mother died shortly after his birth (1819), the father married again.